Electrical stimulation or sensing leads for providing medical therapy are being used in an increasing number of applications. Leads have been implanted in patients' hearts, along the spinal column, and in other locations to deliver appropriate therapy or sense physiologic conditions. Increasingly leads are implanted in veins, arteries, or other lumens to stimulate or sense tissue near the lumens.
The implantation of electrical leads in lumens presents opportunities because the leads can be fed into the patient's body and implanted without the surgery necessary to install nerve cuffs and other surgically implanted electrodes. Implanting leads in lumens also reduces the possibility of post-surgical trauma or damage to the tissue being stimulated or sensed. Difficulties associated with implanting leads in lumens include issues with lead migration and difficulty orienting the lead and electrodes.
Typical electrical leads have a proximal end that is connected to an electrical pulse generator or to circuitry configured to process signals sensed by electrodes on the leads. The electrodes on the leads are connected to the distal end by flexible and durable conductors, which are ultimately connected to an external or implantable medical device containing the required circuitry to detect sensed signals ot to deliver stimulation therapy.